Thursday, June 25, 2009

Let it be known that I AM alive and well. Let it also be known that I am still without my laptop and even my old, ancient backup laptop. I have been demoted to our old PC upstairs that the kids use for their games and Webkinz and it is highly inconvenient. I come up to use it and within 10 minutes my children sound like they are killing each other from the sounds of the screaming and yelling. For the record, DFS frowns on your children killing each other. Trust me on this.

I would so love to share photos of my trip to Carey's but this dog gone computer won't upload them from my camera. Grrr... I can tell you that I had a wonderful time. Carey is delightful, as are her funny husband Scott and her darling boys Jack and Logan. I can also tell you that I got lots of sleep. Since Emma didn't have her bed to contain her at night, I had to lay down with her to get her to go sleep. I learned something at Carey's house.

I have also found something else out about myself since coming home and being computer deprived: When I'm computer deprived I get more house work done.

Yes, I've gone off the deep end.

While you all have been Facebooking and blogging, I've been shampooing the carpet in my van and organizing closets. The horror!!! I even went to Hobby Lobby and bought baskets to organize my stuff. And they were 50% off. But I didn't use a coupon. (Sorry Brandy!)

Trace has been working on my laptop and he claims he should have it fixed by Saturday night when I come home. I'm leaving tomorrow to go pick up Julia from her friend's in Tennesse and coming back home on Saturday. Yes, I'm driving 16 hours in 2 days with 3 small children and 8 hours with 2 middle school girls. Pray for me. Also pray that Trace has my laptop done. Momma needs to blog.

Friday, June 19, 2009

I took tons of pictures yesterday to put on my blog but my laptop had other plans. It's being totally uncooperative and is on the brink of death. At one point I got a "blue screen" but Trace, my on call computer guru, told me that it wasn't the blue screen of death. So I guess it's on life support. Or not, because it's currently tucked in it's case. Maybe it needed a vacay too.

Carey has been kind enough to lend me her lap top. I think she was afraid of the withdrawal from the internet side affects. I have to admit that the twitching and the foaming at the mouth were a bit on the high drama side. So you'll get sporadic updates but no pictures.

Emma and I had a 8:05 flight direct from Kansas City to Los Angeles but Emma was not a happy girl. First of all, a girl needs her beauty sleep and with her going to sleep late the night before and the audacity of her mother waking her up around 6:00 to get her dressed. Well, it was all a bit much so she got even the only way she knew. She made life miserable on the plane. About half the flight was her mad because... well sometimes it just wasn't apparent why. Finally, after the plane landed and we were waiting on the tarmac to get to our gate, she fell asleep. Of course.

We were at the back of the plane (my choice) and we were the last ones off. When we got to the baggage claim Carey and her boys, Jack and Logan, were eagerly waiting for us. {Insert picture of Carey and her boys} After retrieving our luggage, we loaded into the car and headed for the beach! We spent about an hour on Malibu beach. {insert picture of me looking like Malibu Barbie} Emma and the boys dug in the sand and walked along the edge of the ocean. Emma liked the waves as long as they didn't get too high. {insert picture of Emma at the edge of the ocean}

We then headed to a restaurant on the other side of the highway which involved going under a bridge, by a man camped on the steps who was very talkative and by a lizard . But we made it safely across and went to a restaurant that had fish. Since I'm on an adventure, I tried a shrimp taco which was good. Emma was more mundane and stuck with chicken strips and french fries. It was then time to head to Carey's and just hang out. The rest of the day was very low key. Me have a low key day? I know!

Scott, Carey's husband, did call to check and verify that I was not an ax murderer. I told her to tell him that I did pass 3 background checks for 3 different adoptions but that Ryan's adoption was completed a year ago. Twelve months is enough time for me to be a busy girl. However, I'm not sure you an bring an ax on a plane. Not that I've checked.

So today will be another low key, laid back day. We're heading to the park later and just chillin'. Like a villian.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

I've decided to name my trip "Mommy Runs Away" even though I'm not sure it technically qualifies as "running away" when I have one of my children with me. I think it mostly does because I only have 1/6 of my children. You be the judge.

I realize I don't leave for my trip until Thursday morning but my children left me on Wednesday afternoon so Wednesday counts as the beginning. Although Gauge isn't technically staying with Grandma the entire time (just while Cody works) he was as excited about going to Grandma's as Jenna and Ryan were. From the time they woke up until the time they left all I heard was "when are we going to Grandma's?" Around lunch time I finally had Jenna call Grandma to get a definite time so I could start the official countdown. Grandma and Grandpa were coming at 3:00.

Here they are lined up with their individual suitcases. (Ryan just woke up from his nap so although he wasn't Mr. Chipper, he was really wanting to go.)

Since Gauge wanted to go so badly and kept asking where his suitcase was while I was packing, I got the okay from Cody for Gauge to go with the other kids and spend the evening. Cody and Trace picked him up just before bedtime.

Suitcases were loaded into the trunk and they scrambled into the car. I had to call them back out. "Where's my hugs and kisses goodbye guys???"

Hugs and kisses were delivered, booster seats adjusted and strapped in. They were ready to go.

And as they left I could hardly get a wave goodbye.

Emma woke up from her nap to discover she was an only child and she was the most delightful child I have ever met. She let me give her pigtails and just walked around talking and playing. She was totally reveling in being the only child.

I took advantage of being nearly small child kidless and we went out to dinner at Trace's favorite restaurant, The Salty Iguana. (Okay, I admit it, I didn't want to cook.) Emma continued in her happiness by expressing herself in dance.

Sometimes a girl just has to get her groove on. Especially when sporting sassy pigtails. The sass continues though. She should be asleep right now getting ready for our early morning wake up but she apparently doesn't want the fun to end. She's crying to get out of bed. Where's a bottle when I need one???

For her silly, not me.

Don't forget to drop by Teresa's blog Continuing the Journey. She's having a raffle to raise the rest of her money for her adoption of precious Molly. A chance is only $5 and there's some awesome prizes-- in fact there's even more now! Three more prizes have been added. In addition to the 1) autographed copy of Silent Tears by Kay Bratt, 2) the Pirate and Princess costumes and 3) 7" Sony digital picture frame there is now 4) a Swarovski crystal bracelet with a bead that says "mom" 5) a Vera Bradly tote, your choice of color and 6) an 8 pack of movie tickets to Regal cinemas.

And if that's not enough, if you tell Teresa (or me) that you got to her through me and I'll enter you in my own drawing for a There's Always Room For One More mug (and Crack bars) and a $25 gift certificate to Olive Garden.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Carey at Life in the Carpool Lane, yes the very same Carey I'm going to see in in about 36 hours, started her very own tag! How clever is she? (I didn't just say that because my life will be in her hands for four days.) And since I'm trying to be a more responsible blogger, I decided to play.

1. Where are you blogging right now?
On my living room sofa while watching Two and Half Men. Yes, I multi task, I've actually covered this topic before which inspired me to give a riveting and Pulitzer Prize nominated review of The Cougar.

2. How many unpublished posts do you have in your 'draft' box?
Two, but I don't think they'll ever be finished. Sometimes I'll start a post and not finish it because it starts looking pretty stupid.

3. Whose blog inspired you to start your own?
Because I Said So. If she could write about her six crazy kids then I could write about mine. Of course, when I started mine I only had 4 but soon leaving for #5.

4. When do you usually publish your posts?
At night when the kids are in bed.

5. In your guesstimation, how many blogs do you read?
About 30-50 but I've been a bad blog reader lately. Sorry!

6. How long have you been blogging for?
I started my blog in September of 2007 and had planned to blog while I was in Vietnam. But Vietnam was such a fiasco that I couldn't blog while I was there. Paranoia was rampant. When I came home I was too emotionally exhausted to even consider it. I really got back into blogging when I was preparing for Ryan's adoption last spring.

7. Why did you start blogging?
Because I like to find the humor in most situations and my kids seem to provide lots of material.

8. Why do you keep blogging?
Because I love to connect with people and I've made some really great friends. I also like to make people laugh.

9. If you could only recommend one blog to a friend, which one would it be?
I refuse to answer this question for fear that I will hurt someone's feelings. Besides, I could never really narrow it down to one. That's like asking me which one of my children is my favorite. (Trace will tell you it's him since he's the first born.)

10. If the internet was "turned off" for one month, what you you do with all the time you used to spend blogging?
Is is just my internet or the world's internet? If it was mine, I would be hanging out at Starbucks a lot --- like I need anymore reason to be there! If it was the world's internet than the world would be in total chaos and I'd probably be too busy trying to survive.

So now YOU are invited to use this tag too. And let me know in the comments that you did so I'll be sure to come and read your list.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Today my family got to practice their chopstick skills. When you think if chopsticks, I bet you think of this place:

Okay, well maybe not, but we were at the mall food court and the pickings were slim.

Jenna's the old pro and likes to use her chopsticks any chance she can get. We hadn't gotten any chopsticks with our food so a trip to the counter was in order.

Yum! We love lo mien noodles!

Ryan had to practice his chopstick skills too. Another trip to the food counter. I should have known that if one child gets something then all of them want it.

When we got Ryan last summer, his chopstick skills put us all to shame. But then a few weeks after he came home he absolutely refused to use chopsticks and used a fork or spoon instead, even when the rest of us were using chopsticks. It took several months before he would even consider using them again. I would have thought that using chopsticks would be just like riding a bike-- once you learn you never forget. I was wrong. Now Ryan struggles to use them.

But he's pretty pleased with his progress.

Gauge, seeing all of this, wanted to try it too. Obviously, rice is much harder but I showed him how to scoop it up with chopsticks.

Success!

And then there was Emma. Wanting to try but refusing to pay any attention to how it's done.

But she managed to figure it out anyway.

Someone's pretty pleased with herself!

Yum, noodles.

Trace, you're setting a bad example for the children!

After all of this, and me taking pictures, and people staring at us for me taking pictures, I think Cody was beginning to wonder what kind of family she got herself into. Too late Cody! We're like the Hotel California. You can check in but you can never leave.

I "met" Teresa last summer and became introduced her wonderful family via blogland. I've even corresponded with her 16 year old daughter Meggie. (Hi Meggie!) For awhile Teresa and I even had a friendly competition over followers. And then she got a demanding job. Her aspirations being blogging queen were put on hold.

Nine months ago Teresa and her family saw her little face and her file and sent a letter to China requesting the chance to be this precious little girl's family. They were granted Pre Approval and began the long and arduous paper chase. A paper chase that has become much more onerous since I paper chased my 3 adoptions. (Thank you Hague Treaty.) Teresa got her paper work done, sent it to China and expected to wait for 3-5 months for official permission, otherwise known as an LOA (Letter of Acceptance.) Let's just say that Teresa was shocked when her LOA came in six weeks. Great, right? Of course, but also surprising given the fact that Teresa and her husband had planned to work extra shifts to earn the last of their adoption expenses. Now they'll be in China.

So, Teresa is having a fundraiser and she's got some awesome prizes already and trying to get some other great prizes too. For a $5 raffle ticket you have the chance to win:

1) An autographed copy of Kay Bratt's book Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage. Even if you already have a copy of her book, this will be a personalized autographed copy just for you if you win! Kay's got your copy sitting by her all the time just waiting for who to write it out to. Okay, maybe not all the time, but she's eager to send to a lucky winner!

BTW, if you need a refresher about who Kay Bratt is or what her book is about, check out the interview she was kind enough to give me last fall.

2) You also are eligible to win a set of Pirate and Princess Costumes.

Oh my goodness! Are these not absolutely darling? Trish at Tutu Crazy has donated these and will custom make them to size for the lucky winner. What? You don't have a little one? Give them away on YOUR blog!

And the third prize:

3) A 7" Sony digital picture frame! I gave away a digital picture frame during my Six Days of Christmas Giveaway last December and it was a huge hit. Who wouldn't want one of these? A crazy person I tell you!

So get on over to Teresa's blog Continuing the Journey and donate money on her ChipIn widget on the upper left side. For every $5 you get one entry. The raffle will end on July 10.

But wait! There's more!

(Do I sound like an infomercial because that was totally my goal with that line.)

For every entry you make on Teresa's blog I will enter you into my own giveaway! I will be giving away one of my infamous There's Always Room For One More mugs which are always accompanied by my world famous Crack Bars. Of course. I will also give away a $25 gift certificate to Olive Garden. This giveaway is only available to those who donate on Teresa's blog. When you donate either leave me or Teresa comment telling us that you donated and came from my blog. My giveaway will end on July 10th as well.

I've been a bit of a funk lately. This probably comes as no surprise to those of you who have read my blog for a while. I haven't come out and said it, in fact it's what I haven't said--or more accurately, what I haven't written. My blog posts have been pretty sporadic and just not me.

I had planned to go to BlogHer in the end of July. I bought a ticket before they sold out in March. I reserved a room at the uber expensive Chicago Sheraton. I thought by spending all this money I couldn't really afford to spend it would get me "back in the groove." But the more I thought about spending all that money the worse I felt. And when I really thought about going to BlogHer and what excited me the most, it was the train ride from the airport to the part of town where the hotel was located. Uh, yeah. Not a good sign. But in my defense, I've never rode a train so it was kind of exciting.

Of course, it doesn't help that Julia has left me for 2 weeks. She flew to Nashville on Saturday to go see her bestie in Franklin and to attend an arts camp for kids. I'm thrilled for her but I miss her when she's gone. As full as our house is, when one person is missing I really notice it.

So on Saturday afternoon I was standing in the Southwest airlines check in line with Julia with Emma and I could feel something deep inside me stirring. What in the world? As we got closer and closer to the check in counter it got stronger and stronger until I realized what it was. I wanted to go somewhere. I needed to go somewhere. I must truly be part gypsy because after I've been home for awhile I need to go somewhere new.

You get to go somewhere in July, I told myself. You get to go to BlogHer.

I don't want to go to BlogHer came my reply.

Thank goodness Southwest airlines didn't know they were providing this self analysis or they might have charged us extra when I checked Julia in.

Julia got checked in and Emma and I escorted her through security with my pass to take an Unaccompanied Minor to the gate. Showing my id, taking off our shoes, putting our stuff through the xray machine didn't help my need to fly away somewhere (seriously, who gets excited going through security???) As I sat and listened to Julia's exited chatter about her trip I realized what I needed. I didn't need to go to BlogHer to get my groove back. I needed to go on an adventure.

So how does a mother of six with no money do this? Where there's a will, there's a way. And I knew where I would go. I would go see a friend.

I went home and promptly emailed Carey from Life in the Carpool Lane. We had talked about getting together this summer and we had left off with Carey probably coming to see me in August. I emailed: What if I come to you? I could come the weekend of BlogHer. A phone call came next, and another phone call to my mom, and before I knew it I canceled my BlogHer ticket and my expensive Chicago hotel and bought a plane ticket to Los Angeles for June 18.

I'm leaving in 3 days.

Emma's coming with me and turns 2 in July. It made sense to try to go before her birthday and not buy her a ticket. With any luck at all no one will want to sit next to the screaming child on our Southwest flights. You see, I plan to pinch her as everyone is boarding. (Okay, not really, but you have to admit it's a good plan.) So to go and come back before July 10th I had to go this coming weekend. Everything just fell into place so easily for this to happen. My mom is watching Jenna and Ryan who want to go to Grandma's NOW, Julia is in Tennessee, the boys are self sufficient and Emma's coming with me.

Talk about sudden! But I'm so glad it's working out this way. I don't want to wait, I want to go now, I need to go now. Although There's Always Room For One More is my motto, I have another less publicized one as well: If it ain't crazy, it ain't Swank. The suddeness of it all does seem crazy, but it also seems so right. I am beyong excited and it now seems obvious that this is what I really need.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

I'm big time baby! How do I know? Because Angel at Starting Over interviewed me over at her blog. It was a very serious interview where I waxed philosophical about my theories of quantum physics. Yeah right, but go check it out anyway and tell Angel that I sent you her way.

And what's a big time blogger without big time hair, or in my case, now smaller size hair? After Julia and my's La Brazialia conditioning treatment, I confess that my hair is not currently as flat as it was after Travis spent 3 hours on it, but its 100% softer and much less full. Julia's is too. In any case, I now have clean hair. I couldn't wash it for 4 days and it was covered in conditioner. I was never so happy in my life to wash my hair than I was Monday afternoon at 2:30. And I'm sure those around me who could smell were happier too.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Back when Darrell and I had been married a little over a year and Julia was 5 days old we moved from Joplin, Missouri to Jacksonville, Arkansas-- a town about 30 minutes outside of Little Rock. Darrell may have been a doctor but we were P-O-O-R. Darrell was doing a fellowship which paid next to nothing. The amount of child support and alimony he paid to his first wife was literally more than his monthly salary. Add the fact that our house in Joplin hadn't sold and throw in the rent payment for the cockroach pit of a house we lived in. Needless to say, money wasn't tight, it was non existent. (Thank God for credit card cash advances.) All this to say that we looked for ways to save money and one thing we found was that I could cut the boys and Darrell's hair.

I had been cutting the boys hair already. Crew cuts were totally in so I bought a set of clippers, would set a kitchen chair out in the driveway and shave their heads. Pretty easy stuff. But one day Darrell had gotten his hair cut and came home unhappy with how it turned out and asked me to "fix it." I hesitated. Shaving the boys heads was totally different than cutting someones head with scissors, but I took it slow and fixed what he didn't like. Six weeks later he asked me to cut it again, this time from the beginning. I cut it and he was very happy with the results. I then told him he owed me $20. He paid his hair stylist $20 for a bad cut, the least he could do was pay me $20 for a good one. It was a joke but he got out his wallet and handed me a $20. From that day on he paid me $20 every time I cut his hair, including his last hair cut 2 weeks before his accident. It was considered "my" money, something very coveted back in those rough early years.

Ross has short hair again so the clippers have reemerged but I hadn't cut anyone's hair with scissors in over 3 years, until Friday. Trace told Cody that I could cut hair and she asked me to cut Gauge's.

I strongly suggested that Gauge go to Sport Clips, the very same establishment I had taken Ryan to just a couple of days earlier. But Gauge is deathly afraid of hair cuts and Cody didn't want to be embarrassed by his screaming. My hair cutting scissors have long since disappeared but I found a pretty sharp pair and set to work. Cody wasn't kidding.

He spent most of our time together screaming and crying and asking "Is she done yet?"

Towards the end he settled down and decided it wasn't as horrific as he thought.{Notice Emma clinging to my leg.}

But he was especially happy when it was over. Here he is with his "rock star" look.But since the scissors had been dusted off, I decided to try them out on Emma.

The key to getting her to sit still is to give her food.

{Are you sure you know what you're doing???}

I planned to just even up the back which had never been cut and was pretty scraggly. But Julia (who was photographing the event) kept begging me to give Emma bangs. I hesitated because growing out bangs its nightmare. But keeping Emma's hair out of her eyes has become an even bigger nightmare. Everything I put in her hair to keep it out of her face is removed (and often lost) at some point in the day. So...

I decided to cut her bangs. And the result?

What happened to my baby??? I am currently growing them out. But I must admit, her hair is out of her eyes.

{Yes, my house is a TOTAL mess in the background. Just keepin' it real people. But let it be known, that my entire first floor is currently CLEAN! Hence the reason I was hardly on Facebook yesterday.)

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Julia and I had a Girl's Day Out today, just the two of us for 5 hours. You're probably thinking that we went to lunch and perhaps did a little shopping, but you'd be wrong. Of course, some of you have probably figured out by now never to assume the obvious with me, and you'd be right. Today I gave Julia her 12th birthday present 3 weeks early. I got her a Braziliano conditioner.

No, it's not what you're thinking. Scenes from Sex in the City when Carrie got a Brazilian wax come to mind, but even I, a super cool mom (kids I heard those snorts), wouldn't give my daughter that gift, no matter what her age. But it does have to do with hair.

Poor Julia was blessed with bad hair genes. With my thick, thick hair, hair thick enough for 2 people (as per many a hair dresser) and Darrell's curly, wiry hair... well, poor Julia. Every day for the last school year has been a struggle with Julia hating her hair almost every single day. If that's not bad enough about 50% of the time it ended in some type of disagreement between us over her hair. Apparently the phrase "You're not going to school with our hair looking like that, are you???" doesn't go over very well. Go figure. Throw in the nearly nightly rat's nests in her hair and you've got some fun times baby.

A few weeks ago when I got my hair cut my hair dresser was telling me about a new conditioning treatment they have for hair like mine, wild and out of control frizzy hair. I've seriously considered relaxing my hair before but cost was a huge issue. But the conditioning treatment, called The Braziliano*, was fairly new so they were offering it at half price. It doesn't relax your hair but conditions it so that the frizz and extreme fullness are removed. What I liked about it was that your hair is still curly, the conditioner just makes your hair either look good curly or much easier to straighten. It sounded like a win/win situation and I made an appointment for Julia before I left.

First Julia had her hair shampooed with a special shampoo that opens the cuticles of your hair. Then Travis, her hair dresser, added the protein serum to her hair one small section at a time.

(I apologize for the poor quality of these photos but I forgot my camera and took them with my phone.)

After the serum is applied, her hair was dried and then it was dried again with a round brush to straighten her hair.

After her hair was straightened with the dryer and brush it was then straightened even more with a flat iron.

Then Travis added another serum to her hair and combed it out. All in all it took her about 2 hours. What did we do with the other 3 hours?

I can't walk around in public with hair like this can I? Remember how I said I have super thick hair, enough hair for two people (as per many a hair dresser)? Well, all that hair just means it takes me longer.

Well worth the wait! My hair's never been that flat in my entire life! And Julia, the soon to be birthday girl? What did she look like?

Julia is thrilled with her birthday gift. Right now away. The hardest part of this process is that we can't wash our hair for 4 days and not only that, no pony tail holders or anything that could leave an indention in our hair. Otherwise, we'll have a permanent one, or at least until it grows out. Word to the wise, stay back about 3 feet come Sunday and Monday.

*For those of you who are interested in how this works, Travis told me that the shampoo opens the cuticles of the hair. The serum he puts on fills up the gaps between the cuticles. The heat and the straightening helps the serum set and the hair be in a good condition for the serum to set, which takes 4 days to harden. My hair is not tacky or anything to the touch, but apparently it could still be washed out or the hair could be molded. I could have some real fun with Julia's hair...

1. Sleep2. Spending more time with my kids since school's out3. Losing weight4. Season 6 of LOST5. Learning to digital scrap book6. Meeting some of my blogging friends7. Getting into a more regular workout8. Getting my hair "de frizzed"

8 things I did yesterday:

1. Checked my email2. Began a digital scrap book class3. Ate lunch at Chick-Fil-A with Ross and the 4 little kids4. Made Chicken Sour Cream Enchiladas for dinner5. Went to Barnes and Noble and bought a book on HTML code6. Chased down the dogs only 2 times after they escaped once again7. Talked to my neighbors at the end of the cul-de-sac while the kids played outside8. Talked on the phone to a friend I hadn't talked to in weeks

8 things I wish I could do:

1. Finish my book2. Speak a foreign language3. Be a better mother4. Have a cleaner house5. Have a maid to keep a cleaner house6. Redo my kitchen to have the kitchen of my dreams7. Figure out what I want to be when I grow up8. Get my time management under control

Anita from A Wife, A Woman, A Mom gave me an award! She has proclaimed me queen. So this award and the crown I'm soon to get on my back tooth make it official.

Queen Duties are as follows:

1. List 7 things that make you awe-summm.2. Pass the award onto 7 bloggers that you think are awe-summm.3. Tag those bloggers to let them know they are now Queens too (and link back to the Queen who tagged you).

Seven things that make me awe-summm? I'm having a really hard time with this.1. I love my kids. I'm not always the best mom but I try.2. I'm creative3. I'm a good listener4. I'm a good cook, when I do cook5. I like to try new experiences6. I'm usually optimisticand the grand finale..... 7. I like to help people

Now, I know I'm supposed to pass this tag and award on but I just hate doing that. As weird as it sounds I really don't like to leave people out. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. So, if you've read this far consider yourself tagged AND awarded!